New job at the Oxford Internet Institute: ‘Researcher in Development and Digital Labour’

Researcher in Development and Digital Labour

Grade 7 (£30,434 to £37,394 per annum)

The Oxford Internet Institute is a leading centre for research into individual, collective and institutional behaviour on the Internet. We are looking for a full-time Researcher in Development and Digital Labour to work with Dr Mark Graham and Dr Vili Lehdonvirta on the IDRC-funded project Microwork and Virtual Production Networks in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. Combining archival research, surveys, and interviews, this ambitious project will critically assess the impact of Internet and mobile connectivities on social and economic development, especially when it comes to the emergence of new and transformative ‘virtual’ economic activities and work, such as ‘microwork’ and ‘e-lancing’.

In this exciting role, the Researcher will analyse qualitative interview data with workers and managers, writing up the results as academic publications and final reports. There may also be opportunities for the Researcher to co-design and conduct an additional round of fieldwork in Nigeria.

Candidates should have experience of social science research in Development Studies, Geography, Sociology, Social Anthropology, Communications, Organization Studies, Management or related disciplines, training and practical experience in qualitative research methods.

Based primarily at the Oxford Internet Institute (with periods of fieldwork), this position is available immediately for 1 year in the first instance, with the possibility of renewal thereafter, funding permitting. For qualified candidates, there may also be opportunities to teach course modules on our ‘Social Science of the Internet’ MSc course.

Applications for this vacancy are to be made online. The application form and further details, including a job description and selection criteria, are available on Oxford University’s recruitment website.

The closing date for applications is 12:00 BST on Thursday 1 October 2015 and only applications received before then can be considered. Interviews for those short-listed are currently planned to take place in the week commencing Monday 12 October 2015.

Mark Graham

Mark Graham is the Professor of Internet Geography at the OII, a Faculty Fellow at the Alan Turing Institute, a Research Fellow at Green Templeton College, and an Associate in the University of Oxford’s School of Geography and the Environment. He leads a range of research projects spanning topics between digital labour, the gig economy, internet geographies, and ICTs and development.

This group aims to understand the differences that ICTs and changing connectivities make at the world’s economic peripheries; to uncover who the winners and losers; and to critically consider what ‘development’ is, and should be, in a hyper-connected age.